The group had little trouble leaving Eronmar. Ishiar was glad. The whole naga thing was becoming very unsettling--she increasingly found herself with urges to coil around people and do hitherto unspeakable things to them that almost always involved unhinging her jaw. She was already paranoid of any every emotion she felt towards Cassandra, but the fact that she suddenly looked absolutely delicious was making her nervous for entirely different reasons.

They were all following her when she went below to find Blast. Or, rather, Liliandra was following her, apparently out of some strange fascination, whereas everyone else was following Liliandra for largely the same reason.

"Blast?" she said with relief as she found the skinny redheaded girl sitting in exactly the same spot that she had been in when she left.

Blast looked up. She looked over curiously at Liliandra for all of two seconds, then turned back to Ishiar.

"We're okay," Ishiar said. "I need you to change me back now."

Blast raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. Before long her eyes darted away nervously and her lip vanished beneath her teeth.

"Blast?" Ishiar said again, watching her shift uncomfortably on the bench. "Blast? You *can* change me back, right?"

Blast looked at her and shrugged apologetically.

"...What's that supposed to mean?" Ishiar said.

Blast reached for her belt and withdrew a fistful of empty vials, shaking them for emphasis as she pointed to several empty pouches on her belt.

"So...you could, but you need more stuff?"

"I wouldn't advise that," Kaboom said as she abruptly strolled into the room. "Bee has a tendency to get a little too creative when she's trying to do something that specific."

"Why? I thought you could make just about anything," Ishiar said, looking at Blast.

"Oh no," Kaboom said, shaking her head. "She doesn't have any sort of potion books or anything. Nor would she read them if she did. What she *does* have is a transcendant talent for making shit up as she goes along. That's great *most* of the time. But when you get picky, things get dangerous."

"You've got to be kidding."

"Nope. She once turned me into a mermaid, and it took us months to find a potion that turned me back into a faerie."

"But you did find one?"

"Well, you have to understand. This wasn't exactly a matter of diligent research or scouring the jungle for rare and exotic ingredients. This was Bee throwing junk in a jar and ramming it down my throat every day. To make a long and delightfully chaotic story short, yes, we did find one--after a LOT of VERY INTERESTING trial and error. I thought it was a blast--no pun intended--but you might not enjoy that kind of experimentation quite as much. Especially the day I got turned into a whole herd of garden snakes. That was weird even for me. And the day I was a girlcrunch plant...damn near ate her every time she tried to give me a new potion. In fact, I think I might have once or twice. My memories of the plant incarnations are a bit, uh, hazy..."

"Well, it's not like we don't have a witness," Ishiar said. "Blast, did Kaboom ever eat you while you were trying to turn her back into a faerie?"

Blast rolled her eyes and nodded.

"How many times?"

Blast held up six fingers. Then she paused for a moment, thought back, and eventually raised two more.

"Ooo," Kaboom said. "I hope I didn't digest you too bad or anything."

Blast shrugged.

"Okay, so I'm guessing unless we feel like becoming fertilizer for Ishiar's beautiful green petals, there won't be a lot of shape changing until we find someone more reliable," Cassandra said.

"Wait a minute. I'm not sure you realize what you're suggesting here," Ishiar said. "You're suggesting I *stay* a naga."

"No, I'm suggesting you *not* turn into something worse," Cassandra said. "We were all glad you still have a face, so let's keep it that way."

"Look, Cassandra, this is not natural. Even as we speak, I have this overwhelming urge to coil you up and stuff you into this thing," Ishiar said, pointing an accusing finger at her own tail. "I don't think there's any possible way that could end well."

"We can find you someone to eat," Cassandra said. "Where's Winny?"

"HEY!" came Winny's voice, seemingly from out of nowhere.

Cassandra laughed.

Annelique nervously twirled her hair on one finger. "Um...well, I'm still immortal, so she could eat me, I guess..."

Ishiar was about to say something when a loud, rumbling growl erupted from her tail.

"Shut up, you!" she said to it. "You're not the boss of me!"

It responded with a low, deep gurgle.

Her eyelids batted up and down in frustration as she looked back and forth between it and Annelique, seeming genuinely torn and obviously very hungry.

"...Shut up, you," she finally said again.

"We need Annie," Cassandra said. "Besides, with as powerful as you two are becoming, she could take all year to digest. Or you could end up digesting her clean out of the spacetime continuum. If we're gonna take that kind of risk, we may as well do it with one of Aerothi's cronies." She paused. "Or Winny."

"Shut UP!" came Winny's voice.

"Oh, what are you so worried about? You know you'd love it. I bet right now you're imagining what it would be like to slither 'round inside that hot, powerful tail..."

"I'll kill you."

"Oh, whyever would you do that?"

"Look, Ishiar is cute and all, but Ishiar's *shit* is not. So if I want to stay cute myself, I need to stay outside of Ishiar."

Cassandra laughed again. "Oh, you're a survivor, Winny. I have complete faith in you. Go right ahead and indulge yourself. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. I won't even look. Go on."

"Dangit, I do NOT want to be eaten!"

"WHERE is her voice coming from?" Annelique said, jerking her head around in frustration.

"Annie!" Winny suddenly said. "Annie, I need you to do a favor for me! I need you to slap Cassandra in the face as hard as you can!"

"She's just doing this to try to get to you," Annelique replied.

"I know, and she's succeeding! That's why I need you to slap her!"

Cassandra cackled wickedly. "Oh, Winny, you're so much fun to have around. I should have hired you sooner."

"Stab you in the eyes. I will STAB YOU. IN THE EYES. A LOT."

"Totally worth it," Cassandra replied.

"I WILL FIND A SPELL TO MAKE YOU GROW MORE EYES SO I CAN STAB THEM! AND I'LL GET A GREAT BIG OL' CUSTOM EYE-STABBING THING SO I CAN STAB THEM ALL AT ONCE! YOU WILL HAVE *NINE HUNDRED* EYEBALLS! ALL GETTING STABBED! ALL THE TIME!"

Winny's voice was echoing in the small space of the room--with her voice so loud, it actually sounded like she was yelling from somewhere inside the walls. Several places, really.

"Where does she come up with this stuff?" Ishiar said.

"The question you should be asking is 'has she actually followed through on any of this stuff at least once before?'" Cassandra said.

"You've got to be joking."

"NINE HUNDRED!" Winny yelled.

Cassandra nudged Ishiar. "Interested in a wager as to how long she keeps going?" she said quietly.

"AND ONCE I'VE STABBED THEM A MILLION TIMES EACH I'LL STITCH THEM ALL OPEN AND GET SOME REALLY SMELLY DEMON TO PUKE BILE INTO 'EM AND THEN I'LL RUB IT IN WITH A RAG THAT HAS STEEL SHAVINGS IN IT AND THEN I'LL FEED YOU TO THE DEMON AND THEN I'LL FEED THE DEMON TO A DRAGON AND THEN I'LL FEED THE DRAGON TO AN EVEN BIGGER DRAGON! AND THEN I'LL STAPLE IT'S ASS SHUT SO YOU'LL BE STUCK IN THERE FOREVER AND EVER!"

"And how do you plan to survive stapling a giant dragon's ass shut?" Cassandra said.

"IT WILL BE COMPENSATED HANDSOMELY!"

"That's...actually a pretty clever answer," Cassandra replied. "But bribed or not, it would still need to shit eventually."

"IT COULD SHIT EVERYTHING ELSE! JUST NOT YOU!"

"Or the demon, or the other, smaller dragon. That's a lot of real estate for one ass. I'm not sure you could afford it."

"I WOULD FIND A WAY."

"I think my ears are gonna catch fire if I keep listening to this," Ishiar said.

Cassandra laughed. "I never said Winny wasn't talented. She just needs to learn to stop being so *touchy!*"

"Eyes. Nine hundred. Stabbed. A million times." Winny said. "Entire sagas will be written about the eye stabbing."

Cassandra reached into one of the nearby drawers and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Slipping them over her eyes, she confidently declared "I'm ready. Bring it on."

Ishiar looked strained. "Listen, guys, I hate to interrupt your witty reparte, but I'm pretty sure my self-control won't last through nine million eye stabbings."

"Nine hundred million, technically," Winny said. "One million stabbings times nine hundred eyes--"

Cassandra's hand suddenly shot out like a snake and she practically ripped open one of the drawers. Her other hand descended into it just as quickly, grabbing something that appeared to be covered in clothing.

"GOTCHA!" she bellowed.

"ACK!" Winny squacked as she squirmed beneath Cassandra's iron grip.

"What the--how did she get in there?" Annelique asked.

"Probably phasing magic. Or tunneled in from behind. So are you gonna come out, or do I have to yank you through the wood?"

"I'll come out, I'll come out! Jeez!"

Cassandra let go and a little black shoe emerged from the pile of clothes, only to disappear again. Strangely, a second drawer seemed to shift as it did, before Winny finally half-stepped and half-fell out of a nearby closet on another side of the room.

"That's a neat trick," Cassandra said.

"Not neat enough, apparently," Winny said, straightening out her dress and brushing it off.

"Anyways, back to business. Into Ishiar you go."

"I'll fucking kill you," Winny said. There was actually a gun in her hand this time--Cassandra's gun, no less.

"So THAT'S where that went. Why am I not surprised. I'll tell you what. You give it back now and maybe you *won't* end up on Ishiar's dinnerplate tonight."

"I'm not eating Winny," Ishiar said.

"You're hurting my bargaining position," Cassandra said.

Winny apparently didn't need the encouragement anyway--she was already tossing the weapon back to Cassandra. She caught it deftly with one hand, then gave Winny a stern look. "Now what do you say?" she asked.

"What?"

"What do you say?"

"About Ishiar not eating me?"

"No. What do you say after you steal something from someone?"

"Um...neener neener neener?"

"Guess again."

"Uh...'Hi, my name is Cassandra?'"

"No, we say we're sorry, don't we?" Cassandra said. "Or we end up being fed to SOMEBODY, even if it's not Ishiar. And it might just be Ishiar, if you're both locked in the same room for long enough."

"You're just unbelievably moist over the idea of seeing me get devoured, aren't you?" Winny said. "And you call *me* the pervert."

"You know, you might just convert me," Cassandra said, mischievously nibbling her fingertips. "But I'd have to see you do it to know for sure."

"Not gonna happen. That's not the only gun I stole."

"Oh, I know."

"But after this treatment you can be damn sure it's the only one I'm gonna give back. If you get back any of the rest, it will be one bullet at a time."

"I think you're underestimating the rate of fire on some of those things," Cassandra said. "But I get your point. You're cranky because you've had to spend the last few days hiding in the walls for fear that I would destroy you for stealing my favorite gun. And also because I've been mocking you relentlessly since the day we met. And you haven't been paid."

"I was afraid to come out of the walls long enough to bring it up, but yeah, there is that."

"Well, you do have a locker, just like the rest of my crew. And that's where I stash everybody's pay when they're not around, including yours. And if you hadn't vanished on day one, you would have gotten the key a lot sooner. Instead you vanished."

"Into yet another one of your crew. Even now I'm concerned that coming out of the walls was a bad idea."

"Technically Ralier is a client by proxy, not a crewmember."

"But you still let her eat me."

"I got you *out,* remember?"

Winny scowled harshly. "...You win this round, corsair."

"Everyone wins when I'm involved," Cassandra said, tossing a small locker key to Winny. "Except the people I don't want to win."

"Have you ever considered changing your title to 'Cassandra the Avatar of Raw Seething Hubris?'"

"Oh, Winny, when have you ever known me to understate things like that?"

"If you thought it would bug me, you would."

"You should be honored. Very few get such personalized attention."

"If you were giving me sex, I might like that kind of personal attention. But what I'm currently receiving? The whole relentless harassment thing? That's not so appealing," Winny said indignantly.

"So you're saying all you really need is some warm, tender make-up sex?"

Winny looked indignant, but also looked like she wasn't sure how to answer.

"...I suspect that question is a trap," she finally said.

"In my case, maybe," Cassandra said. "But I bet Annelique would be all over you. In the good way."

"Bullshit," Winny said. "She--wait." She looked at Annelique. "I just realized I barely even know you. Would you actually do that?"

Annelique blushed, suddenly uncomfortable. She didn't really want to blurt out the fact that, if she thought it would make Winny happy, she probably would. She looked around nervously, biting her lip.

"That's a good question," Cassandra said. "Would you do that for just anybody?"

The question became that much more complicated as Annelique realized she might have been asking whether she would choose Winny over her.

In the end, she just threw caution to the wind and walked over to Winny. Crouching down and giving her a kiss, she put her arms around her shoulders and said "what can I say? I'm an angel. I can't help it."

"Nor would you even if you could," Cassandra said, a surprisingly genuine smile gracing her face for a moment. It was only for a moment, however. It seemed having a genuine emotion for once was a bit too much for her face, and with a twitch it was replaced with a cautious, half-assed grin, the look in her eyes intensely uncomfortable.

"W...what's wrong, Cassandra?" Annelique said.

"Wrong? There's something wrong with Cassandra? I want to hear about this!" Winny said.

"I...just remembered there's some ugly business to attend to," she said, looking over to Ishiar.

Ishiar returned her somber look. "I still think we should bring her," she said, looking over at Annelique.

"Take...me...what?" Annelique said, bewildered.

"You still haven't told her?" Ishiar asked.

"No, because I still think it's a bad idea," Cassandra said flatly.

"Cassandra--"

"Ishiar, I'm not an idiot. Don't pretend like I don't know what this is about. You still don't trust me. Which...fuck, whatever. That's fine. Don't. It's probably a bad idea anyway. I'll just...I'll just fucking go myself. That way everybody's safe."

"Even you?" Ishiar asked.

"No, Ishiar. For your information, I am not immortal, unlike some people in this room," Cassandra said. There was a distinct tinge of anger in her voice--almost resentment. "Strategically I'd be much better off having you with me, because they'll have brought all the firepower they think they need to take down Annelique, and I don't want to deal with *all* that myself. But you're going to be second guessing me the whole time. That will be a burden on us both."

"Wait, I never said--"

"Just shut up," Cassandra said curtly, to the shock of pretty much everyone in the room. "You've said everything. You just haven't said it with your mouth. You were following me down the streets of Eronmar, for fuck's sake. You think I don't know why? I'll be fighting alone whether you come with me or not. So I don't see the fucking point. I'll go by myself or take somebody else."

Ishiar was momentarily speechless--speechless for long enough that Cassandra had time to turn and walk out of the room.

******

There was an almost morbid atmosphere on the deck as the Starslicer sat in a small clearing, having left Cassandra to her dangerous errand. Part of Ishiar had wanted to argue with her, and part figured this was the perfect solution. Now it was moot; she was long gone. Annelique was frustrated and frightened. She had no idea what was going on, and nobody seemed willing to tell her. The others were in roughly the same position; they all sensed the tension, but nobody knew what was causing it; nobody but Ishiar and Cassandra.

As the latter stomped off into the jungle canopy, there was nothing but a heavy silence.

Several minutes passed, everyone too nervous to be the first one to say anything. Everyone, that is, except Annelique.

"Ishiar, tell me what is going on," she said.

Ishiar sighed. "There...isn't much I can safely say out loud. I don't know who might be listening."

Somehow the reply made Annelique feel sick.

"Does *anybody* know what's happening?" Ralier said.

"Must have had some sort of tiff with Elvet," Winny said.

"Cassandra thinks I don't trust her," Ishiar said. "She's right."

"Why?" Annelique asked.

Ishiar didn't answer. She was strapping weapons on.

"Why? What's going on? What are you doing!?" Annelique said frantically.

"She tried to lure me into that forest alone," Ishiar said darkly. "But I didn't go with her."

"So? So what?"

"So...Liliandra did."

"Wait, when?"

"Winny saw her sneak off after Cassandra almost as soon as she left."

"You're welcome," Winny said as she stood across the deck, munching on an apple and not seeming too perturbed by the whole situation.

"We have no idea what Cassandra really doing out there," Ishiar said. "I don't plan to wait around until she rearranges things to bring the ambush to us, and I'm not going to take the chance that she might catch Liliandra. "

Ralier broke in at this point. "But--you barely know that...whatever the hell she is! To be perfectly honest, she looks an awful lot like a demon. Why would you trust her any more than Cassandra?"

"She's my daughter! I don't give a damn about the details!" Ishiar snapped.

"What makes you think she's really your daughter?"

Ishiar gave her a frustrated glare. "Look, Annie's not the only one who ever gets to care about someone they don't know," she said, her voice heavy. "Ushan loved me and she died before she ever really got to say it. I feel that every time I look at her. She doesn't care that she doesn't know me, so why should I? She..." Ishiar stopped. "If Cassandra thinks she can just..."

"You really think she'd lead Liliandra into a trap?" Annelique said. "She doesn't know who she is any better than we do."

"Cassandra is a master of secrets. I'm sorry--can't waste any more time. Listen--I can't say what's going on. Just...whatever you do, don't follow me. It would be really bad."

She began to slither into the forest. Annelique simply stood there, feeling sicker than ever.

******

Gairanda had been in something resembling she figured must have resembled a coma for entirely too long now. She felt like her body was so far away she couldn't even claim ownership of it anymore. She even wondered if she was dead. And if so, she knew exactly who's fault it was.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a hell of a lot she could do. She had been stuck wandering from one ethereal landscape to another for days, or weeks. She didn't even know. She fitfully awoke, but never for longer than the briefest of moments; just long enough to catch a glimpse of a demon's face, the feeling of manacles on her as she laid on a cold floor, or hands clamped around her arms as they hauled her from one place to another.

She had almost given up hope when she suddenly felt a tug at her mind, like something reaching out of the ether looking for her. It quickly turned into a tug on her "body," as though someone was trying to physically pull her out of the dreamworld.

At first she thought it might be Elvet, but that didn't last long. This...thing was definately not her. It had none of her gentle subtlety. As it pulled it suddenly felt like it was trying to engulf her, as though it was pulling her into another realm altogether--like a ghost trying to drag her into the ephemeral space where it's warm belly waited.

She tried to struggle, but she didn't have anything to struggle with. There was nothing to hold on to; the misty realm she was in simply melted as she was pulled, and she felt the strange creature pour itself all around her, covering her like a blob of muscle. She felt it's form begin to shrink and constrict, but it was not crushing her--instead it seemed to simply push into her from all directions as though her skin was nothing but air. She couldn't even tell if it absorbing her or she was absorbing it. Suddenly she started to feel another presence welling up inside her, pushing it's way into her from the inside just as the other was from the outside. This one seemed very different; it was somehow wet, pulsing, like a giant organ. She felt hard rods and shapes emerge, feeling as though they were pushing through her spirit like it was a wet membrane. Their shape and configuration seemed almost designed to inspire horror; they felt almost exactly like a human skeleton.

Then she realized it was.

The instant she felt the heat of the strange creature completely permeate her, she realized her senses were no longer describing some strange dreamscape. She was in her own body, still drooping but being held up by two pairs of strong arms. Her spirit was still only half-tethered to it, but somehow it was firmly and unswervingly anchored to this...thing, and it in turn had anchored itself to her body. It was like it had consumed her soul and possessed her body in a way that had somehow left her mind intact.

But her mind wasn't alone. This thing's presence was unmistakeable...it was at one with her, watching her, maybe even manipulating her--she had no way to know.

"What are you?" she silently asked.

It did not answer her question, but she still sensed a reply. A voice that seemed to fill both her and the strange presence inside her with a terrible rage.

Cassandra.

******

Cassandra didn't bother with the Orchid snipers or the ambush party a hundred meters from the meeting site, but she knew they were there. She also knew about the group that was thirty meters away; standard procedure for catching fleeing enemies. She didn't even have to look to know where they would be. They would be exactly where she herself would have put them.

She was only mildly surprised by one thing; the sight of Gairanda, alive and well--albeit unconscious.

She was being held up by a set of demonette warriors at the back of a small clearing in the forest. Almost the entire clearing was encircled by Orchid demonettes and succubi. A single massive Thaegon stood in one corner, idly shouldering a quad-bladed axe. Near the back the clearing, just in front of Gairanda and her keepers, was a succubus clad in robes of blue and gold.

"Huh." Cassandra said flatly. "I thought you would have killed her by now."

"We may still need her for leverage," the succubus said, her voice smooth and calm. "Where are your...'companions'?"

"They aren't buying it. They've decided I'm setting them up."

Bataen shook her head. "Cassandra, I held you in much higher esteem than that," she replied. "You were a much more skilled deceiver in my mind...pity. What shall we do with the Ironbelly now?"

"You'll unhand me," Gairanda growled.

The succubus looked back at her curiously. "Is our little friend cognizant once again? Pity that can't last."

With surprising force, Gairanda practically threw off the demonette who was holding her right arm. The second she literally did throw, grabbing her hair with one hand and flinging her head over heels as she tried--unsuccessfully--to cling to Gairanda's arm. As the demonette crashed to the ground, Gairanda fixed her gaze on the succubus.

"I am Gairanda Hellanna, Ironbelly liaison to the Kikagon court of the Blood Fane," she said, menace filling her voice. "You are forbidden from holding me prisoner, Bataen of the Leerin Court."

Bataen raised an amused eyebrow. "Then feel free to be on your way, liaison," she said, stepping to one side and gesturing towards Cassandra.

"You..." Gairanda said, glaring at her with eyes that were orbs of pure black, whisping with ethereal smoke.

"What about me?" Cassandra said guardedly, her own expression slightly hostile.

"You know damn well!" Gairanda hissed. Walking up to one of the other succubi, she wrapped her fist around the handle of it's sword. "Gimme that!" she yelled as she yanked it out of it's holster and shoved the succubus to one side, practically knocking her to the ground.

"Well, you seem to have regained your bearing," Cassandra said. "Care to explain?"

"I don't know, and I don't care," Gairanda said, smoke practically writhing it's way up her forehead. "All I care about is gutting you, eating you, and leaving you as fertilizer for the ugliest tree I can find."

"You don't know what you're getting into, Ironbelly," Cassandra said as she drew her sword. "The only way you'll live through this is if Bataen is smart enough to stop you."

"I'm afraid I cannot," Bataen said. "As liaison to a court that is formally recognized by my own, we must allow her free passage if she wills it...unless she commits a crime against us. Since you have done so much do advance our interests, attacking you might qualify as such an act."

Cassandra glared at her for a moment.

Bataen simply smiled. "But *until* she does so, I'm afraid I cannot intervene. I'm sure you understand."

"Let's just get this over with," Cassandra muttered.

"Gladly," Gairanda growled before charging headlong at Cassandra. Cassandra deflected her blade and moved to throw her off her feet, but Gairanda grabbed her right back. Their limbs entwined for a moment before they both withdrew. Cassandra made a feint before twisting her blade behind her back and making a stab, but Gairanda didn't react to the feint and merely sidestepped, swinging for Cassandra's neck. Cassandra moved and spun with lightning speed, bringing her swordarm up and stopping the attack with the haft of her blade. She shifted her stance to bring her second hand onto the hilt and moved to smash Gairanda with the pommel of her sword, but Gairanda stepped into her, shoving at her arms with one hand and attempting to bring her own blade straight up into Cassandra's neck. Cassandra jerked her torso backward, kicking off of Gairanda's knee and turning her sudden headlong retreat into a shallow sommersault that left the two combatants out of range again.

Cassandra moved into a cautious offensive, strafing towards Gairanda with her sword held up in a neutral stance. When she came in range she suddenly surged forward, twirling her blade backwards and away from Gairanda even as she kicked the bottom of Gairanda's blade. As her foot drove it upward, her own blade was finishing it's twirl and rising for an attack. It cleaved upward into the side Gairanda's chest. She grimaced and twirled her own blade into a reverse hold, trying to make a downward stab, but her position was too awkward. Cassandra spun around and sent her leg smashing into Gairanda's knees, nearly knocking her down. It was clear she had not expected Gairanda to stay upright, however, as she was not prepared for the immediate counterattack--Gairanda attempted another downward stab which plunged cleanly into Cassandra's shoulder.

"AUGHFfff..." Cassandra yelped, as much out of embarassment as in pain. She fired a ferocious punch into Gairanda's midsection as she stood up, but this didn't move the stout Ironbelly warrior either. Gairanda responded with a punch of her own, which Cassandra almost--but not quite--dodged. The blow sent her staggering back as she stood up, and she barely deflected the series of attacks Gairanda had launched in the meantime. Once she had recovered her balance, however, the tide quickly turned. Cassandra changed her tactics, staying away from Gairanda and doing everything she could to turn the fight into a contest of pure swordplay. Gairanda suffered a series of vicious slashes and stabs before she realized she could not stand up to Cassandra blade for blade, and she once again moved in and tried to move the battle back to one of physical strength. Cassandra had learned her lesson, however, and she was simply too nimble for Gairanda to pin down. Even so, strain was visible on her face--this wasn't the kind of combat she liked, where she won quickly and effortlessly. She had to work for every strike and Gairanda was making her pay for every mistake. And when Gairanda took a hit, it didn't even seem to matter--she just kept coming at her. It stayed that way for a long time. But as that time passed, it became more and more clear: Cassandra was the superior fighter. Slowly but surely, Gairanda's movements became more labored, and more and more attacks started to get through her defenses. The blood began to seep from Gairanda's wounds, her injuries started to get deeper, and a look of desperation began to grow in her eyes.

She knew she was dying.

At last, a twirling slash through Gairanda's chest staggered her enough that she couldn't hold her guard up. Cassandra launched into her with a merciless storm of attacks, her every motion delivering a kick, a punch, an elbow, or a blade. The flurry didn't stop until Gairanda fell to her knees, clutching her sword for support for only a moment before dropping it and holding herself off the ground with a pair of shaking arms.

Cassandra said nothing, nor did she move to finish her off. She simply walked around the clearing, trying unsuccessfully to catch her breath.

"It seems that Gairanda's odds of victory have just taken a sharp fall," Bataen said. "Shall we finish her, then?"

Cassandra looked over at her, her face still flush from the battle. "Go right ahead," she huffed.

"You're going to pay for this, Cassandra," Gairanda said. "Someday you're going to run into an enemy you can't kill, can't sneak past, can't lie to, and can't run away from. If you're very, very lucky, that person *won't* be you."

"Yes, yes, remorse rhetoric, lovely. Eat her," Cassandra said, motioning towards the demons. Bataen, in turn, motioned towards the Thaegon.

"Guuldesh, darling, we have something for you," she said.

The Thaegon clomped loudly over to where Gairanda was desperately trying to stay upright.

"Good evening. Would you prefer headfirst, feetfirst, or assfirst?" it said. It had a surprisingly pleasant voice for a Thaegon. Which wasn't saying much.

Gairanda ignored her. She was still glaring at Cassandra.

"This isn't over," she said through barred teeth. "I couldn't kill you. But no one lives forever. I have seen into your mind, and I know you will never run out of enemies. And when you've murdered Annelique, not even the Goddesses themselves will be able to protect you from them all."

"I'm glad to see you're accepting defeat so gracefully," Cassandra said.

The Thaegon looked down at her. "Well, most people prefer feetfirst, but *I* prefer headfirst, so if you don't mind..."

It seized Gairanda by both arms and started shoving her into it's mouth, head first.

Gairanda didn't resist. She simply let the Thaegon start engulfing her battered body, one meaty gulp at a time. She could barely even feel the oppressive heat of it's mouth through the heat of her own rage. She couldn't help but think that her one solace was that she was being eaten by a demon, simply because it was doubtless a kinder, nobler creature than Cassandra. She exhaled and lost most of her breath as the glomping swallow of the Thaegon sent her head and shoulders into it's disturbingly roomy throat. When she inhaled again, it was second-hand air from the humid depths of the Thaegon's lungs. She simply closed her eyes and let herself go limp as she felt her torso beginning to slide further down it's esophagus.

Cassandra stood there silently as the morbid display unfolded. After just a few gulps the Thaegon had already gotten most of the way to Gairanda's navel. Then something curious happened. A black, misty shape, almost like a ghost, seemed to emerge from Gairanda's back and dissipate into nothingness. Doubtless it had something to do with the strange darkness that had been in Gairanda's eyes...but that didn't matter now. Whatever power she was using was about to become Thaegon shit.

As her legs began to disappear into the demon's thick jaws, Bataen turned to Cassandra.

"Well, now that that is dealt with, I trust you'll make efforts to bring your friends to us?"

"I'll hold up my end of the deal. You just remember yours."

"The Angel will be spared, if that's what you're referring to. I am an Orchid. I keep my word."

"Only when it's written," Cassandra said.

"At any time an agreement is made," Bataen said, her eyes narrowing in anger. "Unlike you. Do not think we will not be watching to ensure *you* remember our bargain, corsair."

"I've beaten far more powerful demons than you," Cassandra retorted, just as the last noisy swallow came from the Thaegon. It gave off a mighty belch and then returned to it's previous position, it's muscled belly jutting out like a barrel.

"Does that mean you plan to renege on us, then?" Bataen replied.

"No. I think I've hit my backstabbing quota for the week."

"I will congratulate you on your astute choice of words to keep, then. You present an excellent long-term prospect. It would be an unthinkable waste for our relationship to be soured for the sake of one Darkswallow admiral." She paused. "I assume your contract with her is your main source of concern?"

"I wish," Cassandra muttered.

"Ah, you have developed an attachment to one of your closer associates then. Understandable. It sometimes happens to my colleagues as well. If their experience is any indication, you will forget them soon enough."

"Obviously. Your colleagues are demons," Cassandra said.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, Cassandra," Bataen said. "While fate may have misfavored you with a human body, you are well worthy of the title of demon. I would happily sponsor you into the Orchid Fane personally, if the occasion arose...assuming you were willing to embrace the Fane's Code of Honor, of course."

Cassandra sighed through her nose and simply walked away, gritting her teeth as she tried to block out the loud and irksome noises of the Thaegon processing Gairanda's body.

A few minutes after Cassandra disappeared into the woods, one of the demonettes walked up to Bataen.

"I had no idea our captive's combat skills were so impressive," she said. "And it seems the corsair is all that she is said to be."

"Not all," Bataen replied. "The Cassandra I was told about was shameless."

"You think she'll get over it? Or will we need to intervene?"

"It will not matter once Mistress Cloud of Azure hears of this."

"Cloud of Azure?" the demonette seemed shaken. "Lady Bataen, the Mistress Cloud of Azure is..."

"A liability. But only in one way. She will not want to spare the angel."

"A liability? But why would she even be interested in this? I doubt a demoness of her standing has even heard of this planet."

"Think for a moment of what she stands to gain if she takes their souls," Bataen said. "The fortune we dropped on the corsair will look like a handful of pebbles compared to what an Empirisai would pay to get even a single fate mark of such power."

"And how do we entice her into buying them rather than simply taking them?"

"We don't need to. Cassandra is going to do it for us."

******

Ishiar found that slithering through the underbrush was not nearly as difficult as she thought it would be. In fact, moving through the forest seemed easier than the stone streets of Eronmar had been, and her movements were fairly quiet in spite of her barging pace. No wonder she'd been jumped by so many nagas in the forest; with no legs to make footsteps, they could sneak up on people without even trying.

Nonetheless, her passage through the forest did not go unnoticed for long. She heard a set of mechanical snapping sounds, and in the very same instant, she felt a half-dozen crossbow bolts bury themselves in her torso.

"Gyah!" she yelled, quickly slithering for the cover of the nearest tree, yanking the thick arrows out one by one as she did so. Bracing her back against the tree, she scanned the treeline for signs of attackers. Her first hint that they were there came when another arrow shot through her chest from somewhere in front of her. It wasn't long before she felt several more perforating her tail, reminding her that it was still trailing out behind her.

With a fierce look, she started scouring the nearby forest, moving at full speed towards the spots she imagined the arrows must have come from. Several more hit her, but every time she turned to find the attacker, she saw nothing but rustling leaves in the trees.

Ishiar was never particularly good at finding people who were trying to hide...so she decided on a tactic that wouldn't require a whole lot of it.

Pulling out her sword, she grabbed it's handle hard with both hands and gave a mighty warcry before taking a powerful swing at the closest tree. The force of the blow didn't merely cut through it--it practically blasted it's trunk apart. It came crashing down into another tree, creating a small storm of splintering wood as their branches impacted and crushed one another. There was a strange flicker inside the chaos; for half a second, a demonette became visible as she was partially smashed between two hefty branches. It was only for a moment, however; soon she was invisible again.

"Dammit..." Ishiar muttered. Well, at least now she knew what she was up against. She hacked down another tree, then another. In the meantime she was still being shot to pieces with arrows, but each time she got hit, she sent a tree collapsing in that direction, occasionally catching one of them in the crash. Though she hadn't knocked any of them out yet, they got a lot more careful and their rate of fire dropped sharply once they caught on that she wasn't about to stop.

But for a moment, she did stop. For a moment, something concerned her more than the barbed and poisonous crossbow bolts that were rapidly making her look like a horrible tailoring accident. It was the fact that she was knocking down trees that were sixty feet high and four feet thick with a sword. What was even more disturbing was that that had been her first impulse.

There were a few seconds where she simply held her sword arm out in front of her, dumbfounded.

"Holy shit," she said quietly.

Cassandra's equipment was generally powerful; even the second-hand stuff she had handed out to her semi-allies. But blowing trees off their trunks was a bit much...

And she had seen Annelique do some things. And she had seen Annelique with the exact same look on her face that she imagined she had now: awestruck. And she had been looking at Ishiar when she made that face.

Ignoring the next few crossbow bolts that drove their way through her body, she decided to test just how far the power of the fate mark could be pushed.

She punched a tree.

She was rather unnerved by the results.

Granted, the fact that the tree trunk practically exploded would have been frightening, but a much more immediate concern was the fact that there was now a tree falling on top of her.

She bobbed out of the way and the tree fell behind her. Several branches struck her shoulders and snapped, but she managed to avoid the big ones. She wished she could say the same for her tail; the stupid thing was now thoroughly pinned underneath the tree. With the way the branches had fallen and snapped around it, they were practically braided together.

"BLAST, IF I WAS CAPABLE OF BEING MAD AT YOU..." she yelled as she tried, unsuccessfully, to slither out from under it.

Seeing her immobilized seemed to give her attackers a great deal of renewed enthusiasm. The snapping of crossbows became almost incessant, as was the pain of bolt after bolt as they pierced her flesh. There were so many now that they were knocking each other around when they struck her, metal grinding against metal in a fashion she could only describe as extremely unpleasant.

She attempted to lift the tree off of her with her arms, but it was too physically awkward. She quickly found it more effective to lift it with her tail, but she couldn't lift it and slither away at the same time. But she had to come up with something--it was actually starting to feel heavy, and she was starting to feel lightheaded. She noticed her hands were trembling; whatever insane threshold the fate mark had, it seemed the demons were quickly approaching it with their relentless attacks.

She lifted the tree with her tail and moved herself underneath it, pushing it up above her head with her arms and finally flinging it far enough that no significant part of it was on her tail. That was apparently around the time the demons ran out of crossbow bolts, as she suddenly felt at least four invisible blades slashing through her. She started swinging her sword wildly around her, but she was feeling faint. Between attacks she lunged this way and that with her outstretched hand, hoping to get a grip on one of them so she could finish her off or eat her to replenish her strength, but her fingers grasped nothing but air and the occasional blade edge.

Finally, she collapsed to the ground, a dozen splintered branches smashing into her torso as she did so. She couldn't even hold her head up, but her unseen attackers didn't even miss a beat, continually stabbing her prostrate form over and over.

Well, she had apparently put the fear of God into them, at least.

As Ishiar felt unconsciousness approaching through the rain of horrible stabbiness, she reflected on the sheer ignominity of it; defeated simply because she wasn't prepared for something as simple as invisible attackers. One decent mage--Annelique, for that matter--could have seen her through this fight. But she had left Annelique behind, too consumed by her anger and paranoia to let her come along.

The first decent look she got of her attackers was a wide-open maw. It belonged to a slender demonette; strangely pretty, with an almost innocent look to her face, in stark contrast to the wantonly demonic combat gear that covered her. Ishiar almost groaned as she felt the shape of her mouth against her hair, half out of humiliation that she was taken down so easily and half out of the fact that the more animalistic side of her was suddenly incredibly excited at the imminent prospect of being eaten again. Her hindbrain found the idea of entering the lithe demoness quite exhiliarating, much to her conscious mind's chagrin.

Apparently she had indeed been swallowed one too many times, as her limp, powerless body tingled with almost-but-not-quite-unwelcome pleasure and anticipation as she felt the wet flesh of the demonette's cheeks slide over her face. Her breathing became rapid, right up until her air supply was cut off by the fact that the demonette had swallowed her head.

She felt a pair of lips and teeth glancing over her front and back as the demonette's cheeks glided across her shoulders. Rippling muscle contractions pulled her, practically embraced her, giving her sensations that she hadn't even realized she wanted.

By the time her head crowned the demonette's throat and entered it's stomach, Ishiar's pent-up energy caused her to moan in a way that could best be described as embarassingly loud. Her body writhed, but not in the panicked way that a terrified meal would; it writhed in the way that a lover would.

"MMMmmmmmm?" the Demonette hummed as it momentarily stopped. If it could see inside it's own stomach, it would have seen Ishiar's cheeks turn red.

"Sorry," Ishiar muttered, feeling rather absurd.

"Mmmmm-hmmmmm..." the Demonette replied. No more swallows were forthcoming. Ishiar had started to wonder if it had changed it's mind about eating her when she suddenly felt a pair of fingers touching her privates ever so lightly--so lightly that the effect was stronger than if she had just jammed them in.

"EEEEEEEEEE!" Ishiar meeped. The Demonette began to chuckle, and the stroking became smooth and regular. The shape of her labia, laying flat as it did against her new naga body, allowed for effortless, even strokes of a kind she had never felt before.

"Oh...oh jeez..." she gasped. "This is wrong for all kinds of reasons..."

As if in response, she felt two fingers prying her naughty bits apart, making room for a third that started descending into it in a lazy, circular pattern. At this point she was having difficulty telling whether it was the same demoness or if at least one of the others had gotten involved.

"Yee...wow...maybe it's not *all* wrong..." she said between breaths. She heard the demoness give a quiet laugh around her. The finger gently but firmly pushed it's way into her. It began to circle again, it's whole length sliding along the inside of Ishiar's flower.

Something occurred to her--if they were toying with her like this, they probably planned to swallow her immediately after they got her off. She could buy herself some time if she could succeed in not actually being stimulated. Of course, she'd have to string them along so they wouldn't get bored and eat her anyway...

She wiggled her tail a bit, faking a response to the sensation. (She suspected she may have ended up doing it anyway, but that thought was quickly quashed.) Soon there were two fingers inside her, then three, then four. She was certain there was more than one demoness in on it at this point; three of the fingers were slowly pushing themselves in and pulled themselves out in the same rythm, but as one was pushing all the way in, another would be pulling out and the third would be halfway between one or the other. The fourth, meanwhile, was slithering around them in a constant back-and-forth half circle.

She clenched her teeth, her body wiggling in a way that she was pretty sure she wasn't faking. It felt unbelievably good. She started to worry; if this kept up she would only last a few minutes, if that. The effortless way they moved together in ways that made her brain squirm with slightly involuntary joy suggested two things: they did this a lot, but if their techniques were any indication, they still didn't have to wait very long for their meals.

She tried to focus her mind elsewhere--trying to pull her attention away from the five and then six fingers that were now not only reaming her in an asynchronous fashion but making half and quarter circles all over the place. She was getting quite wet, and her skin was starting to tingle all over. Deep beneath her scales, the muscles in her tail started to tingle as well, which was a little disturbing. She also realized it was a little nerve-wracking that she couldn't kick her legs around in response to the intensifying sensations. Instead, her tail wiggled limply, still too weak from being shot a jillion times to actually move much.

She attempted to shift her focus towards the sensations of being in the stomach; the intense heat, the stomach acids, the smell, and the whole knowledge of impending doom thing.

"DAMMIT!" she screamed, as she realized that was only turning her on even more.

Her demonic "tormenters" doubtless misinterpreted this; whatever they decided she meant, the last thing they would have guessed was that her attempt to turn herself off by focusing on the demon's stomach had drastically backfired.

She was now panting uncontrollably with excitement and desire. She was flooded with memories of being inside Ushan, being inside Blast, even being inside that unbelievable bitch Belaphonne...and how much she had loved it every time, even if it had required multiple trips through several different digestive tracts for her to notice. Now her body was pulsing with the sensations of what was going on on both ends of her waist--the outright professional-quality finger-banging she was getting on one end and the warm, gooey embrace of the quivering throat and the dripping stomach on the other. She felt an urge burning inside her to *be* digested; she wanted to feel herself falling apart inside the hot folds of this creature. She desperately wanted to feel it's full, firm breasts from the inside, and wanted even more to become part of them.

Voraphilia kicking in at the worst possible time: when she was clinging for dear life against exploding into orgasm all over the demoness' faces and subsequently being slurped up like a scaley spaghetti noodle. And now that a substantial part of her really wanted to get to that part, calming herself down was getting very difficult. The demonesses seemed to almost perfectly sense every nuance of her body's acceleration towards total ecstatic meltdown, their every movement in synch, always touching each part of her just as it begged most to be touched and amplifying the effect with seemingly strategic use of multiple fingers.

Ishiar was quite vexed with herself. They were winning almost as blatantly as they had been when she was punching trees at them. Every breath brought her closer to the edge, and she knew the edge meant death--an unbelievably pleasant death, but death nonetheless. Every finger motion was like a tiny, wonderful death knell.

"DANGIT! STOP KILLING ME!" she yelled.

The demon around her laughed again, causing it's esophagus to bounce around her. Her flesh slid up and down it's sides, and suddenly it felt like her whole torso was about to cum--not that she had any idea how it would.

The fingers sped up. Then she felt something else--something much longer, that was going much deeper. It--or, rather, they--started to plumb depths she heretofore had not realized she had.

"Hey! HEY! No tails! NO TAILS!!!"

She was about to give. She couldn't take it. Her fingers were clenching and unclenching. Her body was shaking to some dischordian rythm, gyrating wildly like a piston engine that had lost a few too many pieces.

"GYAH!" *gasp* "GYAH!" *gasp* she wheezed, almost perfectly in time with the forceful thrusts of the strongest, thickest, knobliest, most aggressively intrusive and, unfortunately, most talented tail. When she felt it's owner plant her ass on top of her knees and grab her thighs so she'd have more leverage, she knew she was doomed. The fact that a supple demon ass was now rubbing back and forth against her legs didn't help any. She felt it's hot skin slide against her as it rocked it's hips back and forth, using each motion to drive it's tail deeper into Ishiar's...well, tail. Apparently her flower went that deep now. No wonder Nagas were such sexfiends. She didn't realize how much she'd been missing by being human.

Hell, she didn't realize how much she had been missing in the short time that she had been a Naga just because she didn't realize what she *could* have been doing.

Of course, she was catching up on all of it now, and with interest. As she raggedly gasped for breath, she suddenly marveled at the fact that she *hadn't* already blown a gasket and been sent into gastrointestinal oblivion.

"Okay...fine..." she said between heady breaths. "Screw it...you girls just go to town...work your magic...I'm all fucking yours."

She heard a faint voice. "Really?" it said. "I thought *we* were all fucking *yours.*"

"Well, I know it ain't mine," said another.

"You know what I--oh, never mind," Ishiar said.

"Oh yes, we know what you meant, sweetmeat," one said. "Maybe we should take our time with this one, girls. After all, how many chances are we going to get to suckle at the flower of a woman who can punch down trees?"

Ishiar grimaced in embarassment. "That fight sucked, by the way," she said.

"Oh, I can imagine."

Ishiar bit her lip. "Can I ask you guys a favor? I know it's kind of weird, me being--well, under the *circumstances,* but--"

"Oh, by all means, please."

"Instead of sweetmeat, could you call me..."

"Yes?"

Ishiar hesitated. "Goddess, I don't even know why I'm asking this--" indeed, she almost didn't, "--could you call me 'Darling'?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it's, um...well, it sort of has to do with the last demon who ate me. It's a long story."

"Darling?" the demoness said. "Hmm. I can't say I would have pictured you as a 'Darling'. A 'babe,' perhaps, or 'hot stuff'..."

"Well, I looked kind of different then. I had legs, for one thing."

"Really? This must be quite a story indeed."

"Well, she was already--never mind that part. It was just sort of her styYYYYAAAIIIIIILlle..." Ishiar yelped as three tails simultaneously shot into her, writhed around inside her like snakes, then emerged again. Meanwhile, the one who had planted her haunches on top of her had started taking it slow, simply moving back and forth, leaving her tail embedded deep within the now-dripping folds of Ishiar's personal playground. Ishiar found it's presence and it's slow movements to be perversely comforting, though she didn't consider that to be any more blatantly insane than the fact that she was asking the people who were about to murder her to call her by a particular pet name while they did it.

"So who was this demon?"

"Um...that depends. How do you guys get along with the Flesh Fane?"

"Oh, splendidly. Just last night I got along very well with a particular Flesh Fane consort three times. I had only planned to get along with her once. But when she offered a discount after such a stellar performance, I simply couldn't refuse. Had I done so, my erotic organs may well have fallen right off of my body in protest, perhaps even attacking me."

"So, I guess that's good?"

"We have cordial relations with the Flesh Fane, my scrumptious little dumpling," the demoness replied. "Oh, of course. 'Darling'."

"Thanks. Yeah, she was a Flesh Fane succubus named Ushan."

"Oh yes, of course! How could we not remember?"

"You knew her?"

"Well, half the planet is after you, darling. Surely some of them would have looked into your recent history."

"I keep forgetting that. Which, frankly, I prefer."

"Don't worry, precious. I doubt anyone will want you after Eslie has...um...concluded her business with you."

"That makes me feel way better."

"If it's any consolation," she said, "I'd be willing to wager a hundred stones that you're *delicious.*"

Ishiar suddenly felt a tongue slithering along one of the few parts of her abdomen that wasn't lodged in an esophagus.

"That's...um...nice of you. I've gotta say, though, the way you've been talking, you sound a lot more like a succubus than a demonette."

Ishiar heard her laughing. "I think there's a pretty good reason for that, darling."

There was a pause.

"So you never saw me?" the demoness continued. "Well well...with the way a few of those trees were falling, I was almost certain I'd been spotted. But yes, it is understandible that I would sound like a succubus. To the best of my knowledge I am one."

"Oh."

"Does that surprise you?"

"No, it's just that all the ones I saw were demonettes."

"Well, my counterparts here are," she said. "Eslie, the charming little lady who's day you are about to make quite enjoyable, is a demonette, as is the delightfully...outgoing woman who has situated herself on your kneecaps. You should consider yourself lucky. I've never been able to talk her into using her tail on *me.*"

"Maybe she only uses it on people who are getting eaten."

The succubus chuckled again. "We don't have the opportunity to indulge in this quite as often as you might think. Our foes rarely remain conscious once they've been felled. They only awaken once firmly secured within our bodies."

"What a lovely thing to wake up to. So how many others are out there?"

"Two, not counting Fale and myself."

"Fale?"

"The one who's tail is lingering within your loins. Though I would recommend avoiding any statements that involve rhyming the two. She has a...harsh policy about that."

"Kay...what's your name?"

She sighed. "Oh, dear..."

"What? Is it 'flabhumper' or something?"

"No, no. Nothing *that* bad. My name is Feather."

"Feather?"

"Yes."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Oh...it merely carries an angelic connotation. I've had to cannibalize a few of my fellow Orchids to get them to stop pointing that out."

"Why don't you change it?"

"Make no mistake, it is my name, and I am proud of it. The sound of it pleases me, and I believe it suits me. I do not wish to give it up...besides, I find it much more satisfying to send those who disapprove into my belly, where it can teach them the error of their ways. Alas, while it is an excellent teacher, few survive the final exam..."

"Would that be your colon, by any chance?"

She chuckled. "Perhaps, perhaps...and would your name, by any chance, be Ishiar?"

"Yeah..."

"Fascinating! How did you become a naga?"

"Oy..." if she could have slapped her forehead, she would have. "What other people do you already know I hang around with?"

"Let me see...the silent alchemist, the angel Annelique, obviously Cassandra the Corsair--"

"Yeah. It was that first one."

"Incredible...perhaps the stories are not so exaggerated after all."

"Well...I wouldn't go that far. There's a reason I'm *still* a naga, and it isn't that I enjoy it. Though you guys are rapidly changing my mind there."

"Happy to be of service."

"I wonder what she would have done if she had been in that fight...last time I saw a bunch of people trying to peg her with arrows, she just danced around like she was psychic while she mixed a potion that exploded into a gigantic iron...thing."

"I heard about that. It rendered the underground inaccessible for days, though as I understand, that mattered little, as Aerothi had already taken the fortress."

"Do you work for her?"

"I think it safe to say that, no, we do not."

"Who do you work for?"

"That, unfortunately, I must withhold."

"I figured as much." There was a brief silence. "You know what's really weird?"

"Besides the fact that we're having a conversation? Granted, that is not abnormal for our kind--amusing as it is--but it does often seem strange to our meals."

"Uh, no, that was pretty much it. Well, that and the fact that I'm actually starting to like you guys. Which is grotesquely stupid of me."

"Oh, now now now. The fact that we are presently adversaries is no reason to abolish any budding affection between us."

"Isn't it? Because I'm pretty sure it's a really good reason."

"Did the succubus Ushan never teach you? We succubi relish our defeated foes. I'm surprised it never came up; members of her Fane frequently develop an affection for their adversaries."

"Uh, yeah, actually, I did find that out. I *all KINDS* of found that out. But I didn't think you guys were the same way."

"Well, we do not develop an affection for our enemies per se. But there is a primal connection between predator and prey that I find quite beautiful. What is hated on the battlefield can be ecstacy once it is safely and snugly nestled within the proper place."

"Which is obviously your belly."

"Of course. Or Eslie's, in this case. It's her turn, you see. But don't worry..."

Things went quiet for a moment. Suddenly, Ishiar felt something pressing down on her, as if someone had lowered a few bags of cement on top of the demon who's body she was half-occupying.

She felt something shifting beneath her as well, though she couldn't really tell what it was--she could barely feel it.

She didn't know what was going on until she heard Feather's voice; it was coming from somewhere much closer now, and it seemed as though she had laid down right on top of Eslie.

"Eslie is my lover, you see," she said. "Well, I have many lovers, but to let you in on a little secret, she's my favorite. And I needn't tell you I have only the highest standards."

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, lover-ish things...lying down on top of her back, naked, squeezing her breasts as I gently insert my tail into her flower..."

"Eeep...okay...any particular reason?"

"I merely wish to set your mind at ease by assuring you that you will be in very good hands."

"You mean yours?"

"...That's an interesting point. I had not even realized that. When I said 'hands', I of course meant 'stomach,' but you're right. You will be eminently squeezable by the time you near the end of your journey. Her breasts, among other things, will play host to your spirit as your body is absorbed. As she feels, you will feel. Do you, by chance, wish to experience an orgasm with her body before your spirit passes on...?"

"Well, that's awfully nice of you...I'm not really sure what to say."

"Well, I do. I want to see your pleasure reflected in her eyes. But if we wish to do that, time is short--our duties will require that we part ways before you are sufficiently digested if we dally any longer."

"In that case, I think I'll--"

'Hush, darling, just let the bliss that is Eslie's body embrace you with it's warmth, and soon you shall feel the warmth of mine against you. Ladies, if you would kindly provide your assistance?"

Suddenly everything yanked out of her pleasure-bits. The last abrupt movement almost made her blow sheerly from the surprise. Almost, but not quite.

"Um..." Ishiar started. "Aw, hell, it's not like you're not gonna eat me anyway. And it's not like I can move. Well, not in any serious way."

"That's the spirit," Feather said as four pairs of arms dug their way under her tail and started lifting her. "It's really a shame I can't eat you myself. Had we met under less adversarial circumstances, I think we could have gotten along quite well."

"Would you shut up, Feather?" came another voice. "If you want people to stop comparing you to an angel, you could at least stop acting like an angel!"

"I'll pretend you didn't say that," Feather said.

"They're actually quite nice, in my experience..." Ishiar said.

"And I'll pretend *you* didn't say *that,*" Feather replied. "On the count of shove...shove!"

Four pairs of arms practically threw her tail inwards towards Eslie's throat. It rather awkwardly sent her torso skidding through the wet tube of her throat and into her stomach. Her back started to curl and her torso bent slightly sideways as she slid up against the bottom of her gut.

"Jeez, you've got a long tail..." Feather said as the demonesses started to feed it hand-over-hand into Eslie's mouth. Ishiar could only watch with morbid fascination as her own scaly tail--already a strange thing for her to be looking at--emerged from the esophagal sphincter, bunching and coiling up inside the stomach and gradually forcing her into the stomach wall as the space was rapidly filled. It got uncomfortably tight rather quickly, and by the time the last bits of it were being pushed into the stomach she felt like a bunch of *other* nagas were crammed in the stomach with her, their slick, scaly tales pressing her up against the stomach wall. It quickly began to drip, hot liquids seemingly emerging from all directions. She was pressed up against the stomach so tightly that they flowed over her shoulders and down her back rather than down her front. It didn't matter much, since the part of the stomach she was wedged against soon started excreting it's own glop, acting almost like grease and causing her belly and her breasts to slither back and forth against the surface. She felt her hair being soaked with hot goo, and even though she couldn't feel much going on through her scales, she was pretty sure they were getting soaked too.

Ishiar merely groaned when she felt her body shudder in the throes of orgasm. While she appreciated the sensations, it was still rather humilating under the circumstances.

The digestive juices flowed rather liberally, and continued until the stomach was filled almost a third of the way. This wouldn't have been a problem if Eslie had stayed in the position she was in, but before long she heaved herself off the ground and stood up, causing the pool of stomach juices to cascade all over Ishiar and turning her body upside down. Her head was submerged in the pool of stomach acids. She felt a tangy, sour, and slightly bitter taste creeping through her closed lips. The reports her submerged nostrils were giving were something she did her best to ignore, and she pinched her eyes shut, having decided rather immediately that she didn't even want to find out what that might have felt like.

She squirmed around, trying to get her head above the pool. She had to grab her own tail and practically hoist herself up, simultaneously shoving with another part of her tail to act as a platform for her torso, but she eventually did it. Shortly after, she realized that meant she was able to move, and she wondered just how long it had been that way.

She thought of trying to shove herself out of Eslie's stomach, but she had three times her bulk in tail bunched up between her and the exit, and she would somehow have to pull all that out as well--while the demonesses were trying to beat her back in.

And though she realized it wasn't a particularly healthy perspective to take, she didn't really care all that much. The pressure of being a hero kind of sucked. Being digested was awesome. And she would probably be reincarnated with her power intact, even if she didn't have any way of knowing who--or necessarily even what--she would be reborn as.

So she relaxed, accepting her fate. She would be fat on a demonette's boobs, get played with by a succubus, then get crapped out. And hopefully when she was reborn she wouldn't have to deal with being a friggin' voraphile...

She felt the stomach start to bob up and down as Eslie started walking. She heard the demonesses start talking, but her tail muffled everything too much for her to hear without straining, so she didn't bother. She just listened to the sound and let it sooth her as she felt the inexplicably pleasant sensation of the stomach acids beginning to dig into her skin.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain--it was confusing at first, because it seemed to come from a dozen parts of her tail at once, and she was almost certain it wasn't from the stomach acid. She heard a strange noise--the sound of flesh on metal--and squirmed as she felt Cassandra's sword being pulled out of her. The stomach spun violently and she started to hear yelling. There was another sharp pain--this time from the part of her tail near the throat.

Ishiar realized what was happening--the rescue she had forgotten she was even waiting for had actually shown up. And apparently it was Cassandra, of all people.

Suddenly Ishiar felt stupid for all kinds of reasons. She was embarassed that she had basically given herself over to being digested, having forgotten about Cassie, having assumed Cassie would sooner kill her than save her...on the other hand, having a long and elaborate conversation with the people who were about to make her dinner apparently paid off. On accident.

She felt Cassandra's sword biting her several more times as she attacked Eslie. She heard her yelling something. The stomach spun as Eslie fell and hit the ground, then spun again as she got back up. It shifted in strange directions. She abruptly felt something strange touching her tail, seemingly feeling around it. With a start, she realized it was Cassandra's hand.

"That's not gonna work!" she yelled, hoping she could hear her. "All of the grabable parts of me are at the bottom!"

She wasn't sure if it was because Cassandra heard her or not, but almost immediately, the stomach fell and shifted again. It tumbled and twisted as Eslie and Cassandra engaged in some sort of close melee--every once in a while Ishiar could feel Cassandra's knees and arms as they brushed against--or punched--Eslie's belly. Eslie hit the ground again, and something very confusing happened.

Ishiar felt Cassandra's hand again.

From the other direction.

It emerged beneath her, where all common sense would suggest it should not have been coming from. She was pretty convinced Cassandra didn't like her enough to have shoved herself up Elsie's ass in order to rescue her, but she wasn't about to argue with it. She shifted her body so that Cassandra could get ahold of one of her arms, and immediately felt her vice-like and uncomfortably spikey grip clamp onto her. She started to pull, and pull hard. Ishiar wasn't exactly sure what she was being pulled *towards,* but she wriggled as best she could to untangle herself so she could be pulled through whatever horrible thing it was.

She was very surprised by the results.

The first thing she felt was a fleshy tube--pretty much what she had expected (and dreaded). But only a moment later, she felt her arm emerge into the cold night air.

"What the ffwwwWHOAH!"

Cassandra had clamped on with another hand and was yanking twice as hard. Ishiar's whole shoulder slipped through the short, fleshy tunnel and popped out, along with most of her head.

She looked around in bewilderment, but she only saw boots. Cassandra's boots, planted against something on either side of her head.

Another yank brought most of her torso out, and only then did she see what she was emerging from:

Eslie's flower.

The demonette's legs were pried apart, and Cassandra's feet were planted firmly against her inner thighs, using them as leverage to pull Ishiar out.

"Eep," Ishiar said quietly.

Eslie was yelling and kicking futilely, and there was no sign of the other demonesses. After one or two more yanks, enough of Ishiar was out that it was simply a matter of Cassandra dragging the rest of her out while Eslie hastily scrambled backwards, apparently having decided that this particular meal was no longer worth it. As she felt the last of her tail emerge from the warm confines of Eslie's body, she saw Eslie stumble to her feet and run.

"Um...thank you, and WHAT. THE. FUCK. In that order," Ishiar said.

"It's a little known fact that people can swallow things from both ends," Cassandra said. "So it follows that they can forcefully regurgitate from both ends as well."

Ishiar felt stupid *again.*

"I should have remembered that," she said. "The demon-hoe in Faneglut that pretended I was her slave for a day or two used an enchanted dildo to illustrate that to me rather intrusively. Though I'm thinking it's still better than that gauntlet."

"Hey, don't knock it. At this point it has yanked pretty much everybody out of somebody."

"Is that what that yelling was about the other day with Winny and Ralier? I do remember somebody yelling 'SPIKEY GAUNTLET!'"

"I'm thinking I may actually just name it that. But since that's singular it would beg the question of what to name the other one." She held up her other hand, which was wearing an identical--if less slime-coated--gauntlet.

"Um...Spikey's Sister?"

"That works."

"So...uh...wow. You look like..." Ishiar looked at her, her face practically turning to awe. "You look like somebody actually fought you, as opposed to just eating their own ass and thanking you for it."

Cassandra gave a heavy sigh. "Let's just get back to the Starslicer. The short version of the story is that Gairanda is dead and it was ugly enough that I'm not particularly eager to relive it by telling the long version of the story."

"Okay...what happened to the other demons?"

"They ran when they realized who I was. Well, that or the fact that they fought me for more than the five seconds it requires most people to realize I'm an unstoppable death machine."

"Charming bunch. The one was going to have sex with me after I died."

"Um..." Cassandra looked at her quizically. "Normally I'd probably be intrigued enough to ask, but frankly...I feel like shit. Let's go."

"No argument here. But just to warn you, if I start seeing crossbow bolts, I'm just gonna go ahead and hide under a rock and let you deal with it."

"Wouldn't be the worst thing that's happened tonight..." Cassandra muttered.

"Wait a minute--where's Liliandra?"

"Liliandra...?"

"She came after you just before I did."

"I don't know. I haven't even seen her. You want to look for her?"

"Yeah. We probably should."

"Okay..." Cassandra said, not bothering to hide her exhaustion. "But the first place we should check is the ship."

"Why?"

"If nothing else, we need to let everyone else know to tell her to stay put if she heads back there looking for *us*."

"Oh. Good point."

The pair began to head back to the Starslicer. It was a good ten minutes before either of them said anything--Cassandra eventually gave some half-hearted story about Gairanda bravely facing the Orchids by her side but falling in combat.

They caught sight of Liliandra just as they neared it's landing position; she was leaning against a tree about a hundred yards away from the ship, as if she had been waiting for them.

"Liliandra? How long have you been waiting here?" Ishiar asked.

"Not long. Once the battle was over, I thought it best to await you here."

"How did you know the battle was over?"

Liliandra held up a necklace with a large metal pendant on the end. Though it was covered in filth, it was easy to make out the double-hammer icon of the Ironbelly Clan. It was unmistakably Gairanda's. Liliandra was holding the necklace cord in her fist like she was trying to crush it, but her face betrayed no emotion.

Ishiar bit her lip.

"I was unable to save her," Liliandra said. "I am sorry, mother."

"You still did a lot better than I did," Ishiar said.

Liliandra lowered the pendant. "Shall we inform the others of your safe return?" she continued. "I'm sure they will be happy to see that the two of you are safe."